As the nobility in the Hall of Mirrors finished their curtsies, the murmurs of admiration gradually faded, Queen Mary turned to Joseph, her expression filled with indulgence and pride:
"And my excellent son, your Crown Prince! As everyone knows, the plan to strike against the Barbary pirates in North Africa was first proposed by him, and he provided many key suggestions for its concrete implementation. In the end, we have welcomed this great victory!"
Yes, indeed, bringing up her husband first was just to save King's face; the one she really wanted to praise from the beginning was her darling son.
Remembering her son's various excellent performances, she couldn't help but smile—first, her son said that he would join forces with the United States to fight the pirates, thus saving France a substantial amount of money, and he also earned the gratitude of both America and Russia.
Later, her son suggested last month to deploy the newly formed Bertier's Corps to North Africa for support. She had thought they were going there to assist the navy, only to find out that this small corps of 3000 men had directly stormed the pirates' stronghold, and along the way helped the young king of Tunisia reclaim his throne, winning immense benefits for France in Tunisia.
Indeed, the Queen was only aware of the 3000 troops from Bertier's Corps sent to North Africa. As for the more than 1100 police academy students, they were sent on an overseas vacation funded by the Crown Prince, and they had not reported back to her at all.
The nobility in the Hall of Mirrors immediately bowed to Joseph again, showering him with endless praise:
"The Crown Prince will bring a bright future to France!"
"Praise be to the Son of Providence!"
"France's most outstanding Crown Prince..."
"His Highness is the embodiment of talent and wisdom..."
Joseph, though he had become somewhat immune to such flattery through almost a year of "training," still felt chills running down his spine at this moment.
On the other hand, Louis XVI was patting his son on the shoulder with utmost pride, looking even happier than when he himself was being praised by everyone earlier.
And as for the Queen, she had only one thought repeating in her heart: with such exceptional judgment and talent, my son truly lives up to my bloodline...
The young noblewomen in the great hall looked at Joseph with eyes full of admiration and infatuation—the Crown Prince was indeed the most outstanding, the most handsome and appealing, the most perfect dream lover!
And compared to last year, His Highness had even more of something.
Indeed, he seemed to have grown a bit taller, more robust, and even his Adam's apple stood out more prominently! Obviously... Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire
As the girls thought of this, their cheeks turned crimson, the Crown Prince was clearly "ripe."
So, what method should they use to be the first to entice him into their beds? After all, he didn't yet have an official mistress!
They had already automatically ignored Clementine, who was trying to look ferocious next to the Crown Prince. After observing for a few months, everyone realized that the little princess from Tuscany only seemed fierce but was actually quite amiable, and most importantly, not very cunning.
Therefore, the girls' minds became more active again—after all, at the Palace of Versailles, the position of the Crown Princess was the Crown Princess, and that of a mistress was a mistress. Everybody could negotiate and come to a pleasant agreement...
As everyone's praises died down, Louis XVI, joining hands with Queen Mary, came to the center of the great hall and began the opening dance to the tune of Handel's "Water Music."
A young nobleman in a brown coat, standing at the back of the many nobles, gazed at the grand celebration with some confusion and muttered to himself:
"Just because they caught more pirates than usual, is it necessary to hold such an extravagant ceremony? It wasn't like this when pirates were caught in the past..."
A middle-aged nobleman nearby heard him and quickly corrected him:
"This celebration is not just for the eradication of pirates. Look, France hardly spent a franc, sent just 3000 soldiers, yet obtained enormous benefits in North Africa."
"Indeed," his portly companion nodded, "According to the reports sent back, we will be able to buy land in Tunisia, set up factories. Moreover, France now has most-favored-nation status in Tunisian tariffs[Note 1]."
He said with a laugh: "You could say that apart from not having official appointment authority, it's almost like a French colony."
The nobleman with the brown coat's eyes widened: "I see now! That really calls for a celebration. It has been quite some time since France gained overseas benefits, due to British interference, since the Seven Years' War!"
The fat nobleman continued: "Moreover, Tunisia is a great place, fertile land, abundant in iron and olives, quite a wealthy region indeed."
"It seems that, in a few years, it will bring great profits to France. Our Finance Minister will certainly be very happy."
"Ha! Truly, God blesses our King, God blesses France!"
"God bless our King!"
Unlike the majority in the great hall, a small group of nobles with a military background near the orchestra appeared less joyful.
A military officer spoke under his breath: "Does anyone know the background of this Bertier's Corps?"
His companion also lowered his voice: "It seems that Bertier was previously under General Custine, then was recommended by Breti and took up a position in Paris. After the issue with the French Guards, he took over some of their men, forming this corps."
"It appears he must be quite wealthy, otherwise how could he have climbed the ranks so fast..."
An officer around fifty, with deeply-lined eyes, interrupted him bitterly: "I don't care about his background; I just want to know, how dare he lead troops to North Africa without notifying us?! I heard that even Marquis Saint Priest wasn't aware of his deployment!"
These military nobles had long since formed a "community of interest," monopolizing the army's resources and ensuring that any substantial military maneuver had to pass through their consultation to proceed.
Otherwise, the troops wouldn't budge, or the involved officers would be ostracized, or you could find a 1 million livres campaign costing 5 million and still failing.
"It was the Royal Family who directly ordered the movement," another officer said, "without going through the Minister of War."
"How could this be allowed?!" the general with crow's feet at the corners of his eyes said somewhat agitatedly, "We must never set this precedent! I mean, allowing the Royal Family to use force at their whim..."
Surrounding people hurriedly signaled him to be quiet, fortunately, the music was loud enough that no other nobles heard.
Even without considering political factors, if it were their people sent to fight in North Africa, they would at least get a cut of a hundred million livres.
But since Bertier had gone without them, that money had gone down the drain.
The other generals nodded in agreement: "The Royal Family is trying to bypass us."
"We must prevent the Royal Family from controlling the army!"
However, a slightly younger officer gestured dismissively: "General Astou, you really needn't be so worried."
"It's just a small corps of 3,000 men, they can't do much."
"Like this time, if it weren't for their good luck in happening upon a Tunisian coup, they wouldn't have been able to enter Tunis City with their meager forces."
"In future, when facing a real large-scale campaign, the Royal Family will still have to come to us. Then, we can certainly negotiate terms with the Royal Family concerning the affiliation of Bertier's Corps."
"Won't that solve everything?"
After the King and Queen's opening dance, Joseph followed the tradition and danced the second segment. His partner, of course, was Clementine.
It was still the simplest sarabande dance, and the two people with the obvious height difference thus held their heads high, posing in various shapes while politely circling each other.
It was undoubtedly the most awkward dance of the evening.
Once the dance was over, Joseph immediately escaped to a quiet corner. Soon, Mirabeau, who likewise wasn't very fond of dancing, joined him and started discussing the investment plans for Tunisia.
Technically, this task should have been managed by the Minister of the Interior, but Joseph knew Mono's capabilities, so he had Mirabeau lead the planning and would later present it directly for Cabinet approval.
However, as Joseph heard Mirabeau speaking of "three to four years" and "plans to have 50,000 people moving to Tunisia," he couldn't help but frown.
According to his vision, it would be best if, by next year, Tunisia could yield a large amount of grain to alleviate France's food shortage. If there could also be some industrial and trade revenue scale, so much the better.
But if it would take three to four years just to move 50,000 people, that would be almost ineffective.
"Can we accelerate the speed and scale of this immigration?" he asked Mirabeau.
"Your Highness, this is the fastest plan we have come up with after research," Mirabeau said, troubled, "As you know, although land is cheap in Tunisia, buying large parcels costs a considerable amount. And with the long journey to an unfamiliar land, travel and settling costs are significant.
With no returns for the first half-year, people without a certain level of wealth simply cannot afford to go there.𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
"And few wealthy individuals are willing to leave France, given that North Africa's environment is not that comfortable. Only after the first group makes money and word gets back home, would more capable people be willing to take the risk, but it would certainly take time to reach scale."
Upon hearing this, Joseph fell silent.
It seemed he had oversimplified things.
The real world was nothing like a game; you couldn't just swipe a mouse and have hundreds of thousands of people instantly follow orders.
Getting each living person to take their savings and take a chance on an unfamiliar land was something the vast majority were unwilling to do.
Could it be that the achievements in North Africa simply couldn't be turned into profits in a short time?
He searched his mind for all cases of immigration, when suddenly his face lit up. The scale of the American migration, a century later, wasn't that the perfect example? He could completely follow their Western expansion plan and implement a North African expansion plan.
```
Joseph organized his thoughts before saying to Mirabeau, "Perhaps, we can look at the problem from a different angle."
"What do you mean?"
"Since the rich are unwilling to endure the hardships in North Africa, let the poor go instead!"
Mirabeau was taken aback and shook his head, "Your Highness, this is hardly feasible... The poor can't even afford the necessary travel expenses."
"The government will provide loans to support them." Joseph suggested, following the Americans' approach and considering the current situation in France, "Travel expenses, money for seeds, money for agricultural tools, and even the living expenses for the first half of the year, all of it could be loaned to French farmers by the banks. Do you think 300 livres per person would be enough?"
"That should be more than necessary, Your Highness, a little over 200 livres would suffice. If we organize a fleet to transport them in large scale, it could cost even less."
"Very good." Joseph nodded, "As for the land, the banks will fund the purchase from the Tunisians and give it directly to the farmers to cultivate. After 10 years of cultivation, the land would belong to them. In the meantime, they only need to pay a portion of the grain yield to the government each year."
"The land in Tunisia is fertile; they should be able to pay back the loans quickly with their harvests."
Mirabeau exclaimed in surprise, "Your Highness, this would mean the government would have to spend a lot of money... probably tens of millions of livres."
"It would be worth it!"
Joseph knew that the drought in the next couple of years would lead to a massive reduction in crops. By the middle of next year at the latest, an unavoidable famine would occur. By then, the government would still need to spend a lot of money to buy food for disaster relief.
It would be better to invest some of the money in Tunisia now, as the increased grain yield could also be used to deal with the famine. Plus, it would be a stable source of food — with plenty of sunshine and rainfall there, it was possible to harvest three times a year with minimal effort.
"Before long, the rich produce of Tunisia should recoup the initial investment."
Mirabeau pondered and slowly nodded, indeed as the Crown Prince had said. If the number of French people in Tunisia increased, the development of the abundant iron goods, olives, livestock could commence due to the market demand. This could eventually extend to the whole of North Africa.
He suddenly thought of a problem, "Your Highness, such a big investment, I fear our finances might not be able to support it..."
"Leave that to me."
Joseph couldn't help sighing lightly, considering setting up a Tunis Development Fund first to attract private investment, but he was unsure about the domestic capital interest in North Africa.
If it really came down to it, they could issue a batch of high-interest bonds. Thankfully, France's debt had been somewhat relieved; looking at the current financial situation, it should still be just about manageable.
But that meant the recently lowered interest rates for national debt would rise again.
Ah, money, why is it so hard to earn?
...
England.
London.
The parliamentary hall of St. James's Palace.
"Clearly, the French have pulled the wool over our eyes," a bespectacled member of Parliament glanced towards the Foreign Minister, Duke of Leeds, his tone laced with irony, "We spent 400,000 British Pounds to fortify the coastal defenses of the utterly unrelated North African 'neighbor,' Algiers, oh, and a few dozen cannons too."
"And now we can only watch as France reaps benefits in Tunisia almost equivalent to those of a colony." Read the latest on empire
The Duke of Leeds clenched his fist under the table, these Whig Party fellows were enjoying themselves in their mansions in London while he was being blasted by the Mediterranean sea breeze, dining on salt meat and sour wine.
Now they had the audacity to blame him!
His eyelid twitched, but he adopted a smiling demeanor, "Mr. James, I believe you're mistaken, it was 360,000 British Pounds, I didn't spend the entire budget."
[Note 1] Most favored nation status means that if Country A enjoys most favored nation treatment from Country B, then any trade preferences and exemptions given to any other country by B must also be given to A. Simply put, this means that the import tariffs B charges A will be lower than those charged to anyone else.